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A man from Borås in western Sweden has been charged with fraud after taking advantage of a technical fault to withdraw 1.6 million kronor ($224,000) from a cash machine, despite having only a couple of thousand kronor in savings.

The man used his bank card to make a total of 315 withdrawals during the night of April 6th 2009 at several locations of the SEB bank in Borås and nearby Gothenburg, according to a report in the local Borås Tidning daily.

The 33-year-old has now been charged with aggravated fraud.

The man was easily identified, as he had used his own bank card, but is reported to have fled overseas for a while. When he returned to Sweden he turned himself in to the police.

The man is previously known to the police for crimes including narcotics offences and theft.

SEB was hit by several incidents during the evening before the fault was noticed and dealt with on April 7th.

A man in Landskrona in southern Sweden was, for example, able to withdraw 2.8 million kronor despite having only 80 kronor in his account. He was later convicted and sentenced to 22 months in prison.